E-books vs. Printed books: is reading changing and how we define it?

Essentially the two formats are quite similar; both allow you to do one thing: read. But the act of reading from a printed manuscript is essentially different if not more ‘authentic’ from reading the same hypertext from a device in an electronic format.

What concerns me is not only if e-tablets slowly come to replace the printed book but also how the experience of reading is changing along with the new technological advances and the culture of e-books. I believe the experience of reading is as important as someone’s own body, as it would be an extension of someone’s arms, of hands, and it is without a doubt an internal part of how we perceive the world and how we construct it.

For example, for me reading means (a printed book) that I am connected with a recollection of a specific place, time, feeling, smell and a particular moment. My understanding of the world and of myself comes to be defined from the act of reading.

So how this memory is constructed now if the way we read is rapidly changing? Does that enhance our understanding of our world and of ourselves or just our experience?